Their most popular exclusives thrive in America. 

Hasn't this been asked and answered a thousand times.

Release a system a year ahead $200 cheaper than its main competitor, building a stronger original fanbase. Create an increadible (pay to play, yet cheap) online experience. Soon younger crowd sees their friends with it, so they get it too after all it is cheaper and in HD.

Everybody has said most of these things which are obvious and hardly worth arguing about. Or maybe your like me and you had a PS3, but wanted to play Mass Effect, Gears and Halo on top of the great games Sony already puts out.

I think it's because of the option to choose the Xbox 360 4GB for just the US199,00. The console is cheaper!

I think it's because of the option to choose the Xbox 360 4GB for just the US199,00. The console is cheaper.

This has gotten extraordinarily off-topic, but many of these foreign-owned companies still employ in the US. Toyota and Hyundai do a lot of production in the Deep South for one, and companies that still produce products in the US like Anheiser-Busch are technically foreign-owned

Well lets see:

Is it because the Xbox was dominant? No, the PS2 was dominant in America pretty much like everyone else. So therefore the sales of the Xbox 360 in America are the result of good actions taken by Microsoft. You can talk until you're blue in the face about how 'Sony screwed up' but even so someone else has to pick up the ball if the star player drops it and then do something with it.

Microsoft just did considerably better. I still remember talk of how PSN was broken pretty much at launch and required a patch to fix it. Price alone doesn't explain why the PS3 is behind because at the present time the average sale price is $266 vs 333 so 2/3rds of Xbox 360s and PS3s sold were at the same price. Eliminate the 1/3rd of Arcade sales and the Xbox 360 is still ahead.

So why?

Microsoft simply offered the services and features better sooner or not replicated at all. America is a large market and multiplayer is important whereas PSN updates come out of Japan which doesn't see such importance. This is why features which have topped the most wanted PSN improvement list 3 years running still haven't been added. Now when you want to play with friends, chances are you'll find them on Xbox Live so chances are you'll buy an Xbox 360 to play with them. If you mainly play Sony exclusive titles and are a PS lover (no shame if you are) it isn't as apparant because you notice only some general features missing. However if you play 2nd tier games online you'll notice the experience is considerably better throughout on Live.

The real question which should be asked is why the PS3 is so strong in America? Probably had people had perfect knowledge in 2006/2007 that games like GTA IV etc would all appear on the Xbox 360 as well we wouldn't be talking about the PS3 as a viable platform in America. The PS3 only survived on peoples assumptions. The assumption at the start that it would be another all destroying platform so the games were ported or developed exclusively on the PS3 on this assumption and systems were bought based on those assumptions.

I think the Xbox 360 is so popular in Amerika because she is an excellente Konsole with great Games. Xbox 360 has many excellent exklusive Games an many cool multi Games. Most of the popular Genres are well served on Xbox 360. There are many good RPGs, JRPGs, 1st Person Shooter, 3rd Person Shooter, Horror Games, Shoot em Ups,Hack and Slay, Action Adventure  and Adventure Games  on the Xbox 360. Only Jump and Runs are not so many there. 

And the sconde reason why Xbox 360 is so popular in North America and Europe is its an brand from America, from a well  respected Company. Americans and Europs prefer rather American products than Asian products. I´m from Germany and I also have more sympathy for American produkts than for Asian produkts ( but I personal have an Xbox 360 an Ps3 and a Wii but I prefer my Xbox 360 the 360 ist the best Console thus far this Generation). And when you are out of Amerika this factor is sure stronger.

Because its all about online play and Xbox LIVE is head and shoulders the competition.

The only problem is, when Sony messed up Nintendo became dominant in the US, not the 360. I will give it up for MS for being successful in America but they are far from being dominant.

On your second point to why PS3 survived, I guess you forgot RROD.

The 360 had the games, the online, the support while the PS3 was always too expensive and no support. The PS3 was called a major disaster from Times magazine, but MS allowed them to stay alive because they created some shady hardware so they can come out first. I could have bought a 360 in 2006, but waited because I was scared the 360 would break on me.

The original price of the console caused a huge surge of popularity in America, and that popularity once started took own a mind of its own. Kids bought the console their friends already had, and still do. Thus, as popularity increase, so did marketing and library. The 360 is a very wester-centric console, so it only makes sense that even without the early launch/popularity advantage, it would still dominate in the west.